Helmer’s address is titled “From Gospel to Enlightenment: Reason, Experience and the ‘New’ Luther.” Like all Wittenberg Series events, the symposium is open to the public free of charge.

Prior to the Wittenberg Series event, Helmer will meet with Wittenberg community members for an informal conversation at 3:30 p.m. in the Weaver Chapel Activity Room.

A professor of religion and adjunct professor of German at Northwestern University, Helmer is an expert in the theology of Martin Luther. She is the recipient of several fellowships, including a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Tubingen, a DAAD Research Fellowship and a Humboldt Fellowship. She previously taught at Harvard Divinity School and the Clarement School of Theology.

Author of The Trinity and Martin Luther (1999), Helmer has edited and co-edited eight volumes, most recently The Global Luther (2009). Additionally, she has presented talks at a variety of national and international conferences.

Helmer, who earned her Ph.D. from Yale University, will deliver a plenary address at the International Congress for Luther Research on “Luther and the University” in August 2012 in Helsinki, Finland.

The Kenneth H. Sauer Symposium is made possible by an endowment established in honor The Rev. Dr. Kenneth H. Sauer, Wittenberg class of 1952, at the time of his retirement as bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Southern Ohio Synod in 1996.

The Wittenberg Series annually brings distinguished lecturers and performing artists of national and international prominence to the Wittenberg campus and Springfield community. To make special arrangements, reserve a Series poster, or become a friend of the Wittenberg Series, contact Jeannine Fox at 937-327-7470 or via e-mail at jfox@wittenberg.edu.